Breadcrumbs - oneshot
by annieplus7
Summary: Training day for the Redfox team.


**Hello minions.**

 **I am dedicating this oneshot to my dear friend, levymcgarden17, as well as Squad Team Lily . (If you don't know who they are, I suggest asking amaranth121)**

 **(Gold and Iron angst was starting to get to us..)**

* * *

She was a fool. She thought she could escape him.

He opened the attic door with as much stealth as he could muster, careful not to disturb the air within.

He slid bare feet across smooth, hardwood floors, distributing his weight evenly so as to not make the boards creek. He stepped into the room, surveying the forgotten boxes and furniture.

He almost choked on the amount of dust in the air. But he could still see the thin cloud of her scent as it meandered around the room.

He crouched, tasting the fragrance on his tongue. This trail was old, she wasn't here anymore.

He was on the hunt for one particular blunette: his script mage.

He followed the unsure footprints in the dust. She had bounced on her toes to look over a towering set of boxes; her hand rested on the edge for balance. One meter away was another pair of little feet positioned questionably. She had lingered in this spot judging by the strength of her perfume.

 _What had she been doing here?_ he wondered.

It appeared she had shuffled her feet, moving things. He confronted a curtain and rod attached to a high shelf. He moved the gaudy fabric aside, seeing a yellow note left on the floor.

The natural oils from her hand left an impression on the page from where she held it to pen her note: a single arrow pointing left. He picked the paper up, turning it over. Blank.

To his left was a window. He looked through the paned glass, careful not to leave any marks in the grime. She had not physically traveled here, but he looked down across the lawn anyway. Nothing.

She wouldn't leave a note for nothing.

He practically flew from the attic space, sliding down the banister and landing in the living room. With great speed, he bolted out the door to the lawn and then to the side of their house.

He looked up at the window in the attic. No message.

He crossed his arms over his bare chest, casually looking around the grass. There was no scent trail to follow out here, which meant Pantherlily had helped her.

 _Traitorous cat._

He spied a nearby oak tree tall enough for him to get a decent vantage point of the area.

The bark bit into his bare toes as he climbed, but he paid it no mind. When he reached up for a firm handhold, his fingers brushed something soft and cottony. He pulled the item into sight, revealing Levy's favorite orange dress. He chuckled to himself. Hopefully today's training ended up in the bedroom if she was going to be spreading her clothes everywhere.

He inhaled her perfume, renewing her scent to his senses and tossing the fabric over his shoulder.

He settled on a sturdy branch, moving bushes of leaves aside to expand his viewpoint. Though his dragon slayer eyes saw more than most, he couldn't find a single trace of the script mage. Not even a clue.

He toyed with the satin ribbon of her dress. She was playing a psychological game now, trying to get him to step into her little red shoes.

Knowing Levy, her messages were probably literal.

 _Follow the arrow_ , and now, _find my dress_.

Maybe she didn't mean for him to find the dress, but use its location. He scrambled up the branches until he stood on the topmost limb that could still bear his iron-heavy weight.

He had a clear view of their house and there, sprawled along a beach towel in a sweetly tied bikini, was his script mage. She lazed on the roof of their home with her back to the sun and her nose in a book. Her feet swayed in the air with ankles crossed together. Pantherlily sat with her as well, near her shoulder.

A mischievous grin alighted his lips. The house was fairly close and knowing her, she would be oblivious to the world around her with a book. Providing him an excellent opportunity to frighten her.

He pressed himself against the trunk of the tree, taking a steadying breath before launching himself off the branch. His feet skidded across the tiles, certainly bruising them, but he had achieved his goal.

Levy shrieked from his sudden appearance and almost thumped him with the hard-bound literature. She shot him a rather dirty expression before she clicked a nearby lacrima that paused at a certain time: 7:19.

"Seven minutes and nineteen seconds," she reported, not bothering to stand up. She opened her book again to her lost page, determined to continue.

"A new record," the exceed pointed out.

Levy eyed the cat out of the corner of her eye, "Three seconds is hardly a new record."

Gajeel was crushed by her lack of enthusiasm for their game of hide-and-seek, but he quickly recovered when he caught her teasing smile.

"Wanna go again?" he crouched next to her, tugging on a wayward strand of blue hair.

Her smile twitched, "It's too easy for you. You'll just find me again. There are no more places I could hide that we haven't already used."

Pantherlily interjected a comment before Gajeel, "I suggest a larger training area; more obstacles and more ground to cover."

Gajeel snorted, "Like Magnolia?"

He meant his suggestion as a joke, but by the way Lily and Levy deliberated over his comment, he started to think they had taken him seriously.

"Magnolia would work," Levy grinned.

"Wait a sec, shrimp. Th—"

"There are certainly enough places we haven't explored. We could consider it real world experience if Levy were ever kidnapped."

Gajeel's exceed partner smiled deviously as a plan formed in the cat's mind. _They were nuts_.

"Yeah, but—"

"I'm game for round two!"

Levy practically bubbled with excitement as she snatched her dress off his shoulder, tying it over her red-striped bikini. With two quick snaps, her shoes were fastened to her feet and she started walking past him along the rooftop edge.

Quick as a whip, he seized her waist, lifting her off the tiles and crushing her to him in a tight embrace. After a second, Levy returned the hug, pulling back to kiss his cheek. He set her back on her feet.

Gajeel was clearly outvoted, but he wasn't ready to call it quits just yet. He was confident he could find her anywhere.

Pantherlily flew overhead, plucking his little wife from the roof tiles.

"Don't forget to count!" she called from the air. Although, he would have heard her if she hadn't yelled.

He turned his back on them, sitting cross-legged along the peaked rooftop. With her scent fresh in his mind, he closed his eyes and counted upwards.

He would give her one minute. That was more than enough time to get there, and still enough to keep her ahead of him.

This was, by far, his favorite way to train. He would always find her.


End file.
